Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions: Or, An Attempt to Trace Such Illusions to Their Physical Causes |
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Page 4
... illusions , they are , at the same time , grossly exaggerated , while other narratives are nothing more than the device of rank impostors . As specimens of this dubious kind of vi- sions may be adduced , the popular narratives pub ...
... illusions , they are , at the same time , grossly exaggerated , while other narratives are nothing more than the device of rank impostors . As specimens of this dubious kind of vi- sions may be adduced , the popular narratives pub ...
Page 11
Or, An Attempt to Trace Such Illusions to Their Physical Causes Samuel Hibbert. of time , singly or more at once ; but , in general , se- veral appeared together . For the most part I saw human figures of both sexes ; they commonly ...
Or, An Attempt to Trace Such Illusions to Their Physical Causes Samuel Hibbert. of time , singly or more at once ; but , in general , se- veral appeared together . For the most part I saw human figures of both sexes ; they commonly ...
Page 13
... illusions , and , in con- nexion with this elucidation , to point out the origin of the popular belief in apparitions , is an attempt which precludes any notions that may be urged against it on the score of insignificance . The inquiry ...
... illusions , and , in con- nexion with this elucidation , to point out the origin of the popular belief in apparitions , is an attempt which precludes any notions that may be urged against it on the score of insignificance . The inquiry ...
Page 22
Or, An Attempt to Trace Such Illusions to Their Physical Causes Samuel Hibbert. to the knowledge of the Institute of Paris , under the protection of Louis XIV . , this learned body took up the business with much seriousness , and the ...
Or, An Attempt to Trace Such Illusions to Their Physical Causes Samuel Hibbert. to the knowledge of the Institute of Paris , under the protection of Louis XIV . , this learned body took up the business with much seriousness , and the ...
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Common terms and phrases
2d Stage actual impressions afterwards angels apparitions appeared arise astral spirits blood body brain catalepsy CHAPTER degree of vividness demonology demons devil divels dreams duergar ecstacy effect entertained explain external eyes faint Fancy fear figure frequently ghosts heard hierarchy of angels human imagination imparted induced ject kind Laplanders less vivid manner ment mental excitement mental feelings metaphysicians mind morbific causes narrative nature nerves ness night nitrous oxide notion object observed occasion opinion organs of sense painful feelings particular past feelings perfect sleep person phantasms phenomena philosophers pleasurable feelings present principle Rabbi Akkiva recollected images Reginald Scot remarks rendered renovated feelings retina says second sight seen sensations and ideas shew shewn sions somnambulism Soul spectral illusions spectral impressions spirits stage of excitement subsist superstition supposed TABULAR VIEW thing thou thought tion unconsciousness vanished various vision vivifying influence waking writer
Popular passages
Page 49 - I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be the devil : and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, — As he is very potent with such spirits, — Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds More relative than this: — the play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
Page 143 - How oft do they their silver bowers leave, To come to succour us that succour want ! How oft do they with golden pinions cleave The flitting...
Page 194 - It is the heaviest stone that melancholy can throw at a man, to tell him he is at the end of his nature ; or that there is no further state to come, unto which this seems progressional, and otherwise made in vain.
Page 272 - True, I talk of dreams ; Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air, And more inconstant than the wind...
Page 393 - A pleasing land of drowsy-head it was, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye ; And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, For ever flushing round a summer sky...
Page 225 - ... imagined might happen by some accident in the candle. But lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, to his extreme amazement, that there was before him, as it were suspended in the air, a visible representation of the Lord JESUS CHRIST upon the cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory; and was impressed, as if a voice, or something equivalent to a voice, had come to him, to this ef*fect, (for he was not confident as to the very words;) " Oh sinner, did I suffer this for thee,
Page 138 - Spirits, when they please, Can either sex assume, or both ; so soft And uncompounded is their essence pure, Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh ; but, in what shape they choose, Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, Can execute their aery purposes, 430 And works of love or enmity fulfil.
Page 213 - Europe, have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions, as mere old wives' fables. I am sorry for it : and I willingly take this opportunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent compliment, which so many that believe the Bible pay to those who do not believe it.
Page 228 - Being thus doubtful in my chamber, one fair day in the summer, my casement being opened towards the south, the sun shining clear, and no wind stirring, I took my book, De Veritate...
Page 190 - And shake us with the vision that's gone by, The dread of vanish'd shadows — Are they so ? Is not the past all shadow ? What are they ? Creations of the mind ? — The mind can make Substance, and people planets of its own With beings brighter than have been, and give A breath to forms which can outlive all flesh.